%0 Journal Article
%T Nigeria¡¯s Developmental Challenge: Conceptualising Law and Development in the Nigerian Context
%A Somadina Ibe-Ojiludu
%J Beijing Law Review
%P 1-22
%@ 2159-4635
%D 2022
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/blr.2022.131001
%X Law and Development is not practised or founded in a vacuum. It has a milieu, a theoretical foundation upon which it is tethered. In the field of Law and Development, there are some assumed theoretical bases or discourses which have had some enduring influence on the way the field has evolved, is viewed or is practised. This article looked at Nigeria¡¯s developmental challenges from the lenses of some of these theoretical assumptions and equally looked at some of the assumptions from the Nigerian context. The article argued that Nigeria is non-developed partly because the understanding of development by development scholars in the country and the structure of Nigeria¡¯s legal arrangement do not accord with some key extant theoretical frameworks in Law and Development. Examples of such theoretical frameworks include the institutionalist legislative theory, prescription of roles for role occupants, problem-solving methodology of the pragmatic school of philosophy, the problem of drafting law that relies on entropic practices or the trial-and-error procedure and the scope of ¡°law¡± in Law and Development movement. With regard to the scope of law in Law and Development movement, the article argued for the accommodation of customary law as law and thus reflected on its possible developmental impact. The article made a case for the harnessing of the potentials of law for the facilitation of development in Nigeria, guided by the theoretical assumptions in Law and Development. The article utilised the doctrinal research methodology.
%K Law and Development
%K Seidman
%K Nigeria
%K Development
%K Sustainable Development
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=115439